Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said Congress always supported any step taken with these goals.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh Wednesday said the reason given by the NDA government for demonetisation had “fallen flat” as the decision did not affect the rich people at all. Calling the move one of the “most unwise, ill-prepared decision any government could take”, Singh said the ruling party showed a total lack of understanding as to what a huge misery the decision to scrap 86 per cent of the currency in circulation would cause in a cash-based economy like India.

Watch What Else Is Making News

“The reason for demonetisation has fallen flat. Now they are putting it into different moulds. I did not see a single face of a rich man or anyone in corporate sector in the queue (at banks/ATMs) for currency,” Singh told reporters here.

“What we saw was faces of the people who by any stretch of imagination cannot be holding black money. Today, Rs 500 note is paid to the labourer as weekly payment. For one week, they went without food because they did not have currency,” he claimed.

“Even Rs 500 note is not in the market. All this has created total economic chaos in the whole country. More so in the rural areas. This is harvesting time for paddy and sowing time for rabbi crops,” said the Congress general secretary.

Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that demonetisation would curb corruption and tackle terrorism, counterfeit currency and black money, Singh said Congress always supported any step taken with these goals.

“Our first reaction was to support the demonetisation,” he said.

However, the ruling party showed a complete lack of understanding on the amount of misery the decision to scrap 86 per cent of the currency in circulation would cause in a cash-based economy like India, he said.

“A total of 12 per cent of our GDP is cash-currency and to change 86 per cent of the currency without adequate amount of new currency available in the treasury was one of the most unwise, ill-prepared decision any government could take,” Singh said.